100th Episode Special!

There may be errors in spelling, grammar, and accuracy in this machine-generated transcript.

Alicia Katz Pollock: Hey everybody, welcome to our special event for the 100th episode of the unofficial QuickBooks accountants Podcast. We decided to instead of just recording and playing it on July 24th, we decided to actually do a live stream and invite the community to participate with us. So thank you all for being [00:00:30] here. Um, century by century. Yes, century. We did it. So we've got, uh, people in the studio audience, um, coming in from we've got Becca from Florida, and Charlotte is in from Texas and Deborah's in from New York. Hector's lurking in the background, too. Um, we've got.

Dan Delong: Like, an AI agent.

Alicia Katz Pollock: Yeah. Um, we've got Lisa from Dallas. There's all kinds of people on, and you are all welcome to join in the conversation. [00:01:00] And when you write things in the comments, we'll pull them up and put them on screen as well. So what I wanted to do today to celebrate, you know, this is a an episode of gratitude and ideation. Little bit of both. And so I invited all of the different people who have been who have joined as hosts over the last hundred episodes, almost, almost two years, coming up on the two year mark to join me and celebrate and [00:01:30] talk about what we're doing and why and what our passions are. So, uh, the the history of the podcast, not the boring part, but just kind of the how we got here is I was invited, um, through a conversation with, uh, Hector Garcia and and David Leary at earmark, where they realized that they wanted to bring some more live training about QuickBooks and make it more available. Because as we know, QuickBooks is famous [00:02:00] for changing all the time. And the industry is changing. We're under a revolution, really, in the accounting industry, where if you think about how we did things 30 years ago, I would sit there for hours trying to balance my, um, trying to reconcile my bank account, looking for $0.03 off. And the days of that are long gone, and we're on the cusp right now of the future. So there are so many, um, many changes [00:02:30] and, um, that I really think that this podcast is important as a way for all of us to stay on top of the changes, both in the software and in the industry. So the first thing that I want to do is just give a shout out and a thanks to, uh, to Hector Garcia for initiating this project, for asking me to come on as his foil and, um, and creating this opportunity. [00:03:00] And then even when he stepped away, still believing in the project to to keep it going and, um, the I was going to say something about that.

Dan Delong: Um, well, I was very good at, at coming up with ideas and um, and finding people to, to help that help them with that heavy lifting. Yeah. So I'm, I'm glad he, he asked you because.

Alicia Katz Pollock: Yeah. Well, yeah.

Margie Remmers-Davis: And what's so [00:03:30] what I have always loved about this show, one of the many things is the banter. Like it's, you know, that it's not just I mean, you can watch. We all love Hector. We all love watching a YouTube video and learning stuff. Oh, here he comes.

Dan Delong: Yeah, there he is. Hey, speaking of Hector.

Margie Remmers-Davis: I love that. But what's been so great about the show is the back and forth, like, is the banter is the, you know, and you guys would. You guys would call each other on your ideas. You know, you're like, no, wait a minute. Is that true? Let's [00:04:00] dive a little deeper into that. I don't think I agree with you there. You know, so that's always been just so great.

Alicia Katz Pollock: Yeah. And that's one of the reasons why, when Hector stepped away, I had the choice of doing it myself or continuing to collaborate. But it's so much fun for me to be able to to have these discussions and fill in the blanks and tease each other and and all of that. One of the ideas that I had originally that never came to be is I wanted to do in every episode where [00:04:30] Hector would say, like, you know, I'm, I'm Hector Garcia, and I'd say, like, I'm Alicia Pollock. I'm the salt to Hector's pepper. I'm the I'm the Hector's son. I'm the the night to Hector's day. And like, do one of those in every episode and it just never really fit. But I had.

Margie Remmers-Davis: That would have been cute. Yeah.

Dan Delong: He's getting he's getting a little salt and pepper in his, uh, his facial hair.

Margie Remmers-Davis: There he is. Yeah.

Dan Delong: Very true, very true.

Margie Remmers-Davis: You know, the other [00:05:00] thing I have always loved about this, this podcast, is the fact that it's unofficial because it because it's unofficial. It, like, you guys could always be so honest. You know, you could always. And and I loved Hector when you would say, you know, like, I own stock and into it. I want them to succeed. But come on. And he was never shy about saying when he didn't like something, wanted something to be improved. And we all know the Intuit people are listening. [00:05:30] So. So we can like, bump up some of our, you know, ideas or frustrations. And yeah, it's just been such a great platform. I'm so grateful that you guys started this.

Alicia Katz Pollock: Well thank you. Hector, do you have any any words to words of wisdom to share?

Hector Garcia: Yeah. So, um, I'm actually, I pulled over the side of the road. I'm actually in the. I'm between Asheville and Gatlinburg right now, so I'm somewhere in the Blue Ridge Mountains. I just [00:06:00] wanted to come in and say hello. And, Alicia, thank you so much for grabbing this thing by the horn and continuing it, even when I had to step away to focus on the reframe and all the things I'm working on. So thank you so much for grabbing this brainchild of ours and continue to raise it even after the the friendly divorce from the from the from the podcast. And I want to say that as I yeah, as a, as a content creator myself that spend a lot [00:06:30] of time, you know, thinking about what content I'm going to create or what videos I'm going to talk about, or what feature about QuickBooks or whatever I'm going to showcase. You know, I often, uh, I get lost in sort of my own mini world. And sometimes I look forward to, like, other podcasts or other YouTube channels, other videos that I want to watch and and this podcast is like top of my list, something that I religiously wait for Thursday morning to see. What you know, what Alicia and Margie and [00:07:00] Dan and and all the other guests that you brought and you brought someone from into it the other day, it was great. I love the direction that this is going. And you have a loyal listener in me, and I'll continue to contribute, you know, once a quarter or whatever, I'm invited to talk about whatever new things I'm working on.

Alicia Katz Pollock: Yeah, absolutely. That was that was my goal after you, after you stepped away, was I wanted this to be a podcast where you were still getting the news. So yes, I'm [00:07:30] glad to hear that that's working.

Dan Delong: Yeah.

Hector Garcia: So I'm going to say goodbye. I'm gonna say goodbye. Congratulations on the 100th episode. Dan. Margie, um, glad to see you. And I see you. I see a two thirds of you are going to be at reframe, so I'm looking forward to seeing you in in November. Thank you so much.

Alicia Katz Pollock: Excellent. Thanks, doctor.

Dan Delong: Thanks, doctor. And kind of dovetailing off of what? What Margie was saying about it being unofficial, you know, and I. And I'm not sure both of you, but [00:08:00] I know a lot of the guests that are guest hosts that that are, that are part of it. Uh, we're part of the Intuit Trainer Writer Network, right? Where it was just it was it was one of those things where, you know, it was a kind of what's the word I'm looking for? It was it was a way to spread that information. But one of the things that I really appreciate is the fact that it's not ordained by Intuit in that [00:08:30] we are, you know, because one of the things I think the Trainer writer network did is here's the messaging that we'd like you to say or you'd like to, you know, say, say to your audience, whereas this is not sanctioned or segregated or whatever, you know, by, uh, buy into it. Uh, and that's what that's what appealed to me is coming from Intuit and having to say so and support some of the [00:09:00] some of the things. That's something I personally wanted to stay away from. I did not want to be in a position where I would have to say something a certain way. Right. And, you know, I try to look at both sides of the story, regardless of what it is, and find that fine line. But I don't want to be told what I'm going to be saying. And I appreciate that about this podcast.

Alicia Katz Pollock: Yeah, [00:09:30] it's one of the reasons why they're not a sponsor. Yeah. Yeah. Um, and, you know, there are times where I will get pinged by them every so often where they're like, well, this is the terminology we want you to use. So there are times when like when I talk about the QuickBooks platform, they did kind of say, well, Alicia, we don't want you to call it an interface. We want you to call it a platform. And so like I'm willing to honor that. And I do consider this part of [00:10:00] their extended extended messaging that I help get the word out because they have their channels. But we we, the three of us, the five of us have additional reach and getting the information out for how, um, they I don't want to say they want to be perceived, but helping them achieve their goals.

Margie Remmers-Davis: Yeah.

Alicia Katz Pollock: Helps us.

Margie Remmers-Davis: And and it helps so much to be using the same terminology all around, you know, [00:10:30] like very a very simple thing is the gear icon, right. Forever. We called it the gear icon. And then one day they started calling it the settings cog. And we're like oh, is that where we're calling it? Is that what we're calling it now? And now it's just settings, which is a little better, but still like. But some of us are still calling it the gear icon. And. Yeah, yeah, I mean it is good to have similar terminology for things so people aren't confused.

Alicia Katz Pollock: Yeah. And I really like [00:11:00] that, that it because it's unofficial, like you said, that we get to give our own opinions about it. And so it gives us an opportunity to have thought leadership where we're not just talking about the innovations on the in the software. We're actually getting to give our colorful commentary about things that intuit, hey, we're the bridge where the bridge between Intuit and the people who are actually in the trenches using the software. And [00:11:30] I really love having that role. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Dan Delong: Like that guy from Office Space. I take what the engineers and I talk talked to the people. I'm a people person.

Alicia Katz Pollock: I need to rewatch that because that's exactly that's exactly where we are. Um, and, you know, and when I look back at my favorite episodes, I actually surprised myself that my favorite episodes are all the ones where we're talking thought leadership about the industry. And given that [00:12:00] opinion and that color commentary, like, you know, it's one thing to report the software news, but it's another thing to, you know, talk about what's happening in the industry and our wish lists and our, you know, all of that stuff. Yeah. So, yeah. Um, so what what are how about for you to like when you as listeners, what have been some of your favorite topics that we've covered or favorite moments in the show?

Margie Remmers-Davis: Can I go first? [00:12:30]

Alicia Katz Pollock: Okay. Yeah. And actually, before you go, I also want to tell the listeners that we've got people in the audience. If you have favorite moments or favorite topics that we've talked about, feel free to chime them into and we'll pop those up.

Margie Remmers-Davis: Yeah, yeah, I know this was, uh, one of your favorites and it was super impactful, uh, for you, Alicia was when you started talking through how you do a desktop conversion that [00:13:00] it actually, it was spurned by I think it started from a Facebook comment somewhere. Right. Yeah. And then and you said, oh, this is a great topic. I, I do this all the time. And then you just started going through like your deep dive checklist of like every single thing that you do. And it became like all wrote down and actually you actually turned it into a book. Right. And a whole on a whole course. And now I, I tell people [00:13:30] all the time that, like, Alicia is the go to person for desktop migrations. Like I would never do a desktop migration. If I did not have Alisha's check check checklist in my pocket, it was so good and it was so thorough. And, um, and for us here at Acadian, it actually like we here at Acadian, we are we're all about hands on practice. Like everything [00:14:00] that we teach has a hands on component, a hands on component to it. You can't ride a bicycle by watching YouTube video. You have to actually do it. And so, um, so there was one particular episode and it was episode 29, and that was, uh, it was part of the whole desktop migration thing. And Hector was talking about merging accounts and how [00:14:30] and he gave so many great little tips about, you know, when you merge an account, it doesn't actually delete the old account. The old account is still there and it's but it's just deleted.

Margie Remmers-Davis: And if you go on the report and you show the deleted accounts, you'll see there. See that there. But oh, by the way, if it's a $0, uh, if it's a $0 account, you can't actually hide it from the like from the report. And I was listening to this and there was so much [00:15:00] good, juicy detail that I was like, my students have to know this. They my students have to know this. And I ran home and I created a full exercise based on that one particular episode episode. And I linked to the episode and I said, here's the full conversation. Here's exactly what they were talking about. Here's how you can do it in the sample company. And, um, yeah. [00:15:30] So that was by far like that was just so great because it was so detailed and and it was just something that my students could take and do and go, oh, that's what they were talking about. So yeah. Yeah, I actually have that. I was going to put that I'm going to put it in the show notes that exercise. So but I can also put it in the chat since we've got some people, you know, so grateful for those of you who are here live, I'll put it in the chat so that you guys can see it, but I'll put it in the show notes too, because [00:16:00] you can listen to the episode and then you can do it step by step. So yeah, it needs to be updated for the modern reports that my team is working on that. So right now it's the old style. But yeah.

Dan Delong: And it just really goes to show, you know like how Alicia and Hector and everybody involved is, is open to, you know, not there's no secret sauce that, that they're not willing to share. Right. And that's, and that's, it's, it's more important [00:16:30] to get the message out of doing things appropriately and properly than it is to hold on to, um, you know, a unique distinction that they might have over, over someone else. And it really is kind of, um, illustrates the fact that, you know, we're co-opetition, right? We're we're we we we we we appreciate each other for for the, the gifts that we, we bring to the table. [00:17:00] And it's not like, oh, well, don't go to that person because, you know, it's we know that there's just so much to do that it's it we have to, you know, together we learn more and we do more together.

Alicia Katz Pollock: I mean, that's that's really important. And to kind of where we where we are in this whole community and why I dove into the QuickBooks community because I'm Apple certified and I'm Microsoft certified, so I was a Microsoft [00:17:30] trainer for for ten years, and I was an Apple trainer for 15 years, and now I'm all QuickBooks all the time. But the reason why I moved here was because of that collaboration. Like, you know, Dan, you're a trainer, Margie, you're a trainer. And so when people are saying, well, like, aren't they your competition? It's like, no, they're my collaborative minds. They're the people that we, we, we get all the sparks from. And that's one thing that I really appreciate about the whole ProAdvisor [00:18:00] community. And a shout out to Intuit for fostering that over the last ten years, especially through QuickBooks connect. Now, Intuit Connect, by bringing us all together and having us have fun together and get to know each other as people, that we're not just isolated bookkeepers in offices anymore. We're a a vibrant community of collaborators. And, you know, I bring in other instructors into the Royal Wise Owls platform because I don't know [00:18:30] everything. I mean, it looks like I do, but I don't. And that's also why I have you guys on the show with me, because you pick up the little things that I forget and or don't know yet. And that's one of the things that I love. I mean, going going back to what you were saying, Margie, about the the QuickBooks, QuickBooks desktop to Qbo conversion thing.

Alicia Katz Pollock: The way that came out was from that post. You're dead on with that. And then I showed Hector my checklist that [00:19:00] was four pages long and he's like, oh my God. Holy moly. Um, and so he's like, well, let's talk about that on the episode. So we scheduled an episode for it, and then we got like this far and like, okay, we'll do another episode, and then we got that far and we're like, okay, we'll do three episodes, okay, we'll do another. And it turned into 4 or 5 episodes all together. And not just doing the conversion, but like how to create a concierge experience for your, um, for your clients so that you can be [00:19:30] thorough, have it be a positive change. Because we know people hate change, but having it be positive and exciting and exploratory, and this whole concierge experience of really taking care of your client, which also allows you to charge a lot more. And so that and then we took those four episodes and I'm like, oh, well, maybe I should just write it all out. And by the time I wrote it all out, it was a 70 page document. And I'm like, okay, let's turn it into a book. And that's when the [00:20:00] book showed up. So it's literally a guide on Amazon where you can get it. And as you're going through your conversion, making sure you have thought of everything that you could possibly think of.

Dan Delong: So and it's already outdated.

Alicia Katz Pollock: Yeah. Yeah.

Dan Delong: Because they changed it.

Alicia Katz Pollock: Because they changed it all. Um, yeah. I'm about to do a big convert, two big conversion projects, and of course, I take out my book and I update it as I go and then republish it. So yeah, I [00:20:30] actually want to drop the link to the book in the in the chat for this as well. So give me a second to do that.

Dan Delong: Ryan was saying his thing was 2020 things bookkeepers should never do. Rants episode. What was fill us in for those that didn't?

Alicia Katz Pollock: Uh, yeah, that was with Veronica. Um, that was one of Veronica's episodes. And so that was actually fairly recently. Um, let me pull up my my tab. I'll get you a number for that one. So that was me and Veronica [00:21:00] going on about, you know, bookkeepers who crossed legal lines, compliance lines, um, social lines, throwing each other under the bus, you know, like, all the things that. Yeah, yeah, things that you want to do. That was May 15th. That was actually pretty recent. So that was episode 90.

Dan Delong: A couple months ago.

Alicia Katz Pollock: Yeah. Mhm. So that one was pretty recent. Let me put that in my. We'll link to that one in the show [00:21:30] notes. Thanks Ryan. Um some of the other ones that I really liked, um, was actually another one with Veronica. And I wish Veronica had been able to be here today. She's one of my favorite collaborators. Um, my my Veronica story. If you heard my intro episode in January, you've heard the story before. But, um, when I first joined this community, I was going to intuit connect, and I sat down on the plane next to somebody like, I was wearing my I love Qbo t shirt, and they're like, oh, qbo. [00:22:00] And so I sat down next to her and I'm like, hi, I'm Alicia, and I just wrote this book and, you know, and like, I was sitting next to Veronica Wasek, who was already one of the major trainers in the industry, and I hadn't met her yet. And I like I, you know, basically made a fool out of myself. Um, but she was absolutely gracious, and it was the beginning of a really fast friendship. So, um, you know, she's one of my favorite collaborators, so that's why I chose her for the [00:22:30] Wheel of Rants.

Alicia Katz Pollock: Um, because, um, we have such a good time talking together. So the one of my favorite episodes was our ones about the charts of Accounts, which was episode 85 back in April, where we talked about the evolution of the industry in terms of the chart of accounts and how the chart of accounts that we have today no longer represents or no, I'm sorry, the chart of accounts that we've had for 100 years doesn't represent what our modern [00:23:00] needs, um, software. Right. Like today, software is a subscription. So people try and put it under DOS and subscriptions, but that's your memberships and and magazines and it doesn't belong under office supplies because it's not your paper and your notebooks. So now we need a new category for software, because it's not about the how you pay for it by subscription, it's what you're using it for. And 100 years ago we didn't have software. So it's not in the chart of accounts. [00:23:30] Um, and so that's what we talked about in the Chart of Accounts episode, is the new modern needs that aren't represented in your traditional ledger and how to accommodate that. Yeah.

Margie Remmers-Davis: Um, awesome.

Alicia Katz Pollock: Dan, do you have any favorite memories?

Dan Delong: Well, I'm going to I'm going to say my favorite episode is the next one. Um, take a cop out. Um, no, but I, I think I think the one that I [00:24:00] appreciated the most, um, it was actually one that you did by yourself and you were talking about, um, you know, just the, the new iteration of, of, of QuickBooks and, and how we can embrace it. And I think that that is probably the, you know, the the message that we that we as a, as a community can. Strive to, to continue [00:24:30] to, to to say is is the evolution, you know, being holding on to the things that we like and know and trust. Um, you know, is not going to get us to where we where we need to go. You know, I think Joe Woodard said really, really distinctly, you know, a race to the bottom is only going to, you know, give you, uh, you know, a so much. I mean, you're just going to be there with the rest of the bottom feeders, [00:25:00] right? It's it is, um, you know, the the way that technology is coming at us is we we we need to evolve as a, as a, as a practice Practitioners and professionals in this in this industry. In order to elevate ourselves and, um, the way that technology is coming at us. I mean, I mean, we just talked about a new term of agentic AI, uh, [00:25:30] you know, a couple hours ago that, you know, two weeks ago wasn't even in the vocabulary, but now it's going to be, you know, part of the part of the, the vernacular of, of, of the, the industry that, that, that we found ourselves in and just, um, you know, how how you can find, you know, strive to, to, to find out, define that line and be on both sides of the fence, um, of creating [00:26:00] and providing constructive feedback rather than just ranting about, ah, I don't like this. You know.

Alicia Katz Pollock: You just said two things that I wanted to reflect on. Um, one of my other episodes that I kind of consider like a landmark, like you said, like where it shifted was Suzanne Darzi's keynote.

Margie Remmers-Davis: Um, I was going to say, yeah.

Alicia Katz Pollock: Um, at Intuit Connect last year. And so, um, in on November 14th, our episode 64, [00:26:30] um, Hector and I went down his keynote address, like almost point by point and all of our takeaways from it, because that was the moment that in QuickBooks shifted towards AI. And like looking back at that episode and it's only been six months, but we know how fast technology changes. So like as of literally this week when the new platform is rolling out, we're seeing the the [00:27:00] evolution from the first sign to it coming out now. So I think that's that episode is kind of interesting to go back and listen to even even six months later.

Margie Remmers-Davis: Yeah, electricity wasn't invented by improving upon the candle. Like that was so brilliant. That was so brilliant.

Alicia Katz Pollock: Exactly. And, you know, we for the people out there who are nervous about AI and the people [00:27:30] who don't like change and the people who think it works just fine, why are you mucking with it? You know, think about, like, going to the doctor. Like if you were scared of the Cat scan machine, you wouldn't know what's going on in your body, you know? And the technology evolves for a good reason. And a lot of the AI that I'm seeing here is in QuickBooks, at least in its beginnings, is like, oh, hey, you've got some overdue invoices just [00:28:00] sitting here. Are they real, or do you need to remind people like helping with your workflow or the the anomaly detection? Did you miscategorize a transaction, or is there something happening in the company that you need to know about that's already in the software now?

Dan Delong: You know, and and you know, I think the, the, you know, some of the gripes du jour are, you know, dealing with the modern reports that are in QuickBooks online and the inconsistencies. Um, and, [00:28:30] you know, people are saying, well, why are we changing it? Right. Um, however, just keep in mind this is not the first time that reports have been evolved, right? So, um, you know, I was on the receiving end of these criticisms. You know, the last time that that reports were changed and the lo and behold, you're saying the same thing. Right, right. [00:29:00] So two years from now, when they change reports again, we'll be saying, why are we, why are we, why don't we just keep the modern view. You know it. It's, um. It's one of those things that's, you know, change is inevitable and change is hard. And that is part of the part of the challenge that we that we face ourselves in when we have, especially when we have, when we're creatures of habit of, you know, okay, I'm going to go in here and I'm going to do this and I'm going to click here and wait, where is it? Where'd [00:29:30] it go? What?

Alicia Katz Pollock: Right.

Dan Delong: Very fast adding to it. You know.

Alicia Katz Pollock: I mean, it's it's and it's rebuilding the muscle memory. But you know what? What you said, Dan, is really kind of one of the through lines of all 100 episodes of how do we communicate this constructively? Because everybody's instant reaction is it's different. I hate it. And that doesn't serve us as individuals, much less as bookkeepers, [00:30:00] much less as shareholders of Intuit. Um, it's, you know, there's been a couple times throughout the episodes, like one of my favorites is the ones where I go off about QuickBooks labs and how much I miss QuickBooks labs. And that was like episode 41 back in June of last year. So like almost almost a year ago. And right now QuickBooks labs is irrelevant because of the new platform. But once all this settles out, I think it's still [00:30:30] good to bring back. And what QuickBooks labs used to be years ago was a up under the gear. It said QuickBooks labs, and it would give you a list of everything that they were working on developing, and you could opt in to turn it on in your software so that you could see what it was and see if you liked it and tried it out. And I loved that, because if I could try it and I could put in feedback and let them know what I thought about it. And sometimes the features became part of the software, and sometimes they disappeared [00:31:00] completely. But it was intentional, controlled change where I was opting in. So I was choosing it, which made me want to be there. And my feedback was relevant because I was intentional about it. And I really think that I would like to see them bring that back, that having people opt into the beta tests gives them real life feedback from the people who are using it, [00:31:30] not just seeing it.

Dan Delong: Yeah. And the thing about the, you know, I think that's what people are, are, um, voicing their concerns about is that they feel like they're the beta testers when they roll out things like this, instead of opting into these things as opposed to, you know, this is just the way it is. Yeah. Sorry. Yeah.

Margie Remmers-Davis: This this is a perfect jumping board to my biggest rant that I would like my [00:32:00] message to intuit that, like, oh my gosh. Is please, please, please whoever into whoever it into it is listening right now. Please update the sample company with the new features. Do it before you roll it out to the whole world, so that we can practice it and play with it, and use the new features and learn it before [00:32:30] we have to deal with it, like with actual clients, so we can test new features and see, oh, what does this do? What does this do without actually using real client books? Oh my gosh. Like this thing, this new, uh, layout is driving me crazy. And Kathy just made a comment in the, um, in the the in the comments about kind of the same thing. I'll just read it, she says the new layout on tools rollout is also a good thank you. Um, Coinciding [00:33:00] with the new bank feeds experience. Formal training is not going to be available until October. She says there's room for us trainers to get in front of it and straighten the learning curve. Yes. And how is the what is the best way we can do that in the sample company? In the sample company test drive. Oh my gosh, it is driving me insane. And I am just trying to like, oh, I'm trying to just say to the world, to the Intuit world, [00:33:30] please, please, please update that for us so we can. I mean, like you said earlier, Alicia, we are their bridge. We're they're the bridge to they're the trainers are the bridge. So you have to give us something to train with so we can teach them. Oh my gosh. Alright. Rant over.

Alicia Katz Pollock: I'm going to I'm going to kind of like dovetail and twist that rant though a little bit, because in the past I have always been like, don't [00:34:00] change the sample company until it's rock solid, because with all the changes, if it's in the sample company, then we develop materials. Then then it never matches. But in this moment right now, we need the sample company in the new, in the new layout, or at least a different URL that has Craig's landscaping in it. Because we need to make these training materials, we can't just wait until October and get started. [00:34:30]

Margie Remmers-Davis: Yeah, and I'll.

Alicia Katz Pollock: Tell you.

Dan Delong: Test drive this Porsche, but it's actually a Yugo.

Margie Remmers-Davis: Yeah. So I will tell you what I've started doing with my classes. Maybe. Alicia. Dan, I don't know if you guys do live classes. Kathy I don't know if you do live classes. Any other live class person that's on the call today. As Alicia says, flood the feedback. This is what I've started doing. I do a live class every Friday and we [00:35:00] start by saying, what are we going to flood the feedback with today? Right now we're flooding. Today we flooded it with, uh, purchase orders. They have taken purchase orders out of the sample company. And so we've been flooding the feedback. Say, please bring back purchase orders.

Alicia Katz Pollock: You can't just go to the settings and turn them on.

Margie Remmers-Davis: Mhm.

Alicia Katz Pollock: Oh.

Margie Remmers-Davis: No.

Alicia Katz Pollock: Interesting.

Dan Delong: Yeah. I mean I did, I did a um.

Margie Remmers-Davis: And time sheets Charlotte says. Yeah [00:35:30] but that's a whole nother thing. Sorry Danny.

Dan Delong: I know I did a QB power or uh a month ago on, you know, spend management and we talked about expense claims and guess what?

Alicia Katz Pollock: They're gone.

Margie Remmers-Davis: Gone.

Dan Delong: They're gone.

Alicia Katz Pollock: They're gone. Yeah. Um, the and and so for me, like, I have my hands on training class starting this coming Monday. So for those of you when we this this is getting broadcast on the 24th. [00:36:00] So it just started a couple days ago. Um, and I'm going to be what's going to be special about this particular one is I'm bridging that time frame of the release. And you know, right now we are in that opt in where you can turn it on, turn it off. But midway through the class it's going to be permanent, which means this book that I am teaching hand by hand and click by click is going to be wrong. So I'm actually kind of at first I was like, oh my God, that's when [00:36:30] I'm going to do. Um, and then I realized that I have a perfect opportunity to help people with that change management. The book is going to tell you what to do, but here's what you really have to do. And so it's going to be the people who are in this class are going to be lucky, because they're going to get to learn the new interface with me to guide them through. Yeah. So, um, I'm I'm kind of looking forward to it. It's going to be hard, and it's going to put my [00:37:00] training muscles to the test. I'll have to do everything on the fly. I can't prep, um, but it's, uh. I'm looking forward to that opportunity.

Dan Delong: Yeah, I had to. I had a similar type of, uh, aha moment, right with, uh, when I was a trainer for Intuit, and, um, I was in a point of sale, you know, QuickBooks point of sale. Long, long since gone. Uh, but I had trained a class, and the and the training material was on an old, you know, old screenshots. [00:37:30] And one of the, uh, students was like, why are we learning? Uh, why are we learning this on old things? Right. And, um, I totally understood it. And then I, I, I went back to basics and, like, how do I create something that is update proof, you know, and that was like, if we could evolve to, you know, to training something that is that is evergreen and it doesn't matter what the screens [00:38:00] look like instead of this, how do I do this? Uh, how do I. And that's what I ultimately did, was created a learning activities that taught people how to find the answer of how to do things. Rather than putting in screenshots of like, go click here and do that. And that was the learning activities like find fish for your own answer. And then.

Margie Remmers-Davis: Smart.

Dan Delong: Yeah.

Margie Remmers-Davis: Yeah.

Alicia Katz Pollock: You know, when I'm doing trainings I used to be really insecure [00:38:30] about like, oh my God, what if I can't find something? Or what if I make a mistake? Or like, what if I have to go look around and find something? And I was reassured by my students. And this even happened when I taught my reports class on Tuesday. Like something moved. Okay. So, like, I have to go find it and figure it out on the fly in front of a live audience, and somebody even popped in and commented while I was doing it. It's okay. It actually helps us figure out how to troubleshoot [00:39:00] it ourselves. And so my, my students or my attendees on my webinars actually find value in watching me struggle because they see my thought process. And I try and actually at this point, I talk it out. It's like, okay, well, it's not over here. Go look over here. Um, and like, like Brie is Brie was in the class. Somebody just commented, um, that she was in that in that class, and she watched me have to, like, take a minute to figure out where the thing was. [00:39:30] But the feedback I get from my students is that helps them learn change management, that helps them learn troubleshooting, that helps them learn, um, how to navigate the ever shifting sands under our feet. And, you know, fortunately, I'm a person who thrives on change. So I get to bring this as an as an asset. But I, you know, my heart goes out to everybody else who doesn't like change and [00:40:00] has more trouble with when something changes, because not every it's a skill or a talent. It's not like something that everybody has. And so that's kind of why I am so committed and in with both feet for QuickBooks training as a career, because I thrive on that. And I can explain it and I can help with the accounting therapy emotional part of it. And, you [00:40:30] know, so, um, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Dan Delong: And I mean, that's I, I uh, for the, for the desktop faithful and the QuickBooks online faithful, I, you know, I always try to come up with a way to I Dan allergy, right? Is you know, QuickBooks online is a coal mine is a cat and QuickBooks desktop is a dog, right? I mean, dog is loyal. It's faithful, you can train it. And [00:41:00] a cat is just kind of there, right? You feed and water it, you experience something with it. But like a cat, it just sits there at your feet, looking up at you, begging you to pick it up. And then when you do, it scratches you.

Margie Remmers-Davis: That's great.

Dan Delong: But if you're a dog person, you may not like cats. If you're a cat person, you may not like dogs. If you're an animal lover, it really doesn't matter, right?

Alicia Katz Pollock: Yeah, yeah. And and [00:41:30] so as trainers, we're giving people the skills of adaptability. We're not just teaching what to click. We're teaching how to think.

Dan Delong: Yeah that's a breeze that dogs come when called a cat cat takes a message. And we'll get back to you later.

Alicia Katz Pollock: Awesome, awesome, awesome. Um, another one of the my favorite episodes was, um, one that, um, Hector and I did about outsourcing and the whole trend for [00:42:00] globalizing our bookkeeping economy or bookkeeping workforce. That was back on August 1st, 2024, episode 49. And I was kind of on it that day, like, uh, this this is when we'll of rants was invented because, um, you know, we, we had we had these list of topics that we wanted to rant about. And I'm like, Hector, I have to talk about this. I had just come back from what [00:42:30] conference was it? Um. Not a conference. Agn, um, AGN conference. And they were talking about these are big firms talking about how they have this brand new, really inexpensive labor workforce and we can globalize it. And and it's better for our bottom line. And my reaction as a holistic economic. Thinker was, [00:43:00] yeah, but then you're taking all the money and the intellectual capital out of the US and you're sending it overseas. And if you're going to send our money overseas, okay, great. You are helping people live a better life. But how do we repatriate that money back into the US economy? And there isn't a path for that. Um, whereas I do believe globally helping all boats rise. That whole analogy includes not just people in the US. It includes people in the Philippines [00:43:30] and in Mexico. But, well, there's so many people in the US who are hungry for a good, solid career. And yeah, it costs more, but we need our intellectual capital. We need our US citizens expanding their brains and developing their lives. And so that's why I, you know, so not a fan of outsourcing. I think it can be done responsibly and sustainably. But I want everybody listening to this to be the best bookkeeper that they have and spread the word [00:44:00] about how cool bookkeeping is and how fun it is so that we can have more people here in the US.

Dan Delong: And to take a to take a steal a line from Hector is, you know, automate the workflows and humanize the relationship. And that is that's really what we're all about, right? Is, is how can we get out of the workflows and, and building that relationship and that client relationship, uh, even more stronger. So, you know, when [00:44:30] things go askew, you know, and that relationship is, is, is so strong that, you know, it's it's it allows for, um, flaws and errors because we are human.

Margie Remmers-Davis: Mhm.

Alicia Katz Pollock: Mhm.

Margie Remmers-Davis: And that's what's going to protect us from AI. Like AI is. So many people are afraid that AI is. I saw I read a comment just today that said accounting and bookkeeping is basically going away [00:45:00] because of AI. I'm like, oh honey, no, it's changing for sure. A lot of the tedious automated tasks that, you know, there was a great phrase on the, um, uh, on the call, the Intuit call yesterday, um, where the speaker said, um, I wrote it down because it was so great. He said, we're removing the mental load, but we're keeping the judgment. You still have to be the one to [00:45:30] make judgment calls on things. And I was like, Holy cow. Like, that's exactly that's exactly right. And that's why we need well trained, good bookkeepers who know the principles, who know actually what they're doing, who don't just click buttons, you know, because if you think you want to get into bookkeeping just so you can like be a data entry person and click buttons, that's the part that's going away. That's the part that's outsourced. That's the part that's going to be automated [00:46:00] with AI. But, uh, but we need people who understand and who, uh, can make judgment calls and know when something is wrong and can't. Don't just rely on, you know, whatever the AI comes up with.

Alicia Katz Pollock: Right? I mean, until the day comes when you have a restaurant charge and the AI knows if it's meals and entertainment, travel meals, um, employee benefit or, um, owner draw. [00:46:30] Yeah, we're employed.

Margie Remmers-Davis: Right.

Dan Delong: And they all look the same in the bank feed.

Alicia Katz Pollock: Yeah.

Margie Remmers-Davis: Yeah, exactly.

Alicia Katz Pollock: Yeah, exactly. Okay, cool. So, um, what's something that you hope to see in future versions of QuickBooks? Where do you want the software to go?

Dan Delong: Ooh, is this for the audience, the panel? Or.

Alicia Katz Pollock: Uh, people can put comments in the audience. [00:47:00] Yes, absolutely. Um, or Dan and Margie, if you would like to, um, like to comment on that.

Margie Remmers-Davis: Well, my biggest. Go ahead. Dan.

Dan Delong: No, no, it was you. You were breathing. So I was like, oh.

Margie Remmers-Davis: It was just my my biggest thing is the reason that I highlighted that in our document was so that I could rant about the sample company. Oh, okay.

Dan Delong: That's what you want to see is you want to see the sample company [00:47:30] be the.

Margie Remmers-Davis: Yes, whatever it, whatever they're going to do. And I'm I'm grateful that they are the ones, you know, visualizing it and chasing it and, and, uh, and all that and coming up with innovations. I mean, some of the things they talked about yesterday on that call were amazing. And I just want to get my hands on it so that I can practice it. My students can practice it, and we can, like all learn it and be a really great resource for Intuit to go out [00:48:00] into the world. So we can't do that. Oh, who do we have here?

Alicia Katz Pollock: We have a special guest.

Margie Remmers-Davis: Hey, I'm going to bring my husband on.

Alicia Katz Pollock: Okay. So? So everybody, you may not know that royal wise is not just all about Alicia. We actually have a whole apple training, uh, part of our company. And this is my husband and business partner, Jamie Pollock.

Margie Remmers-Davis: Jamie.

Jamie Pollock: It's not about me. I'm here to, uh, celebrate [00:48:30] the 100th episode, because. What a milestone. And so, so proud. And, uh, there will be a Coldplay meme coming out within the hour about it, so. I love you all.

Alicia Katz Pollock: Thank you. Yeah. So that's the other half of Royal Wives.

Margie Remmers-Davis: Woohoo!

Alicia Katz Pollock: Yeah.

Dan Delong: Jamie's great.

Alicia Katz Pollock: And people think I'm great until they meet Jamie. And then it's all about Jamie. I [00:49:00] like to joke that Jamie's the funny one. If you liked my classes, you're going to love his classes. He's the funny one. Um, a couple people have commented that they want to see whip reporting for construction. Um, I do want to point out that Intuit Enterprise Suite is developing whip reporting that there are some Whip reports in, um, Intuit Enterprise Suite. And so that's kind of where Intuit is going for construction, is they're really trying [00:49:30] to level that up.

Margie Remmers-Davis: The, um, uh, somebody Kelly commented that the bank rules aren't working correctly. I think that's because of the all of the changes to the bank feed and the new layout and all of that stuff. I think we'll see that ironed out.

Alicia Katz Pollock: Yeah, I think that's absolutely temporary. I, I've seen actually some changes in the banking feeds just in the last week where they're taking [00:50:00] all of that feedback and putting it in like their attempt was. And I can't remember if I talked about this today or not. Um, but their attempt with the new banking feeds was to make one click access just in line. Um, but now that you can put on as many columns as you want in line, now you have to scroll left and right and left and right and left and right, which. And then when you clicked on it to open the pane, some of your fields that were up there stayed there and everything else was down below. And then I was like, well, shit, I can't do this. [00:50:30] Um, I can't find like, where's where's my pay category? Oh, it's all the way over here. And I had to, like, go scroll around and they because I knocked on their door and said, hi, I need this. They they moved it. So all fields are now if you click on it, all fields are there as of Wednesday. So just a couple days ago um, and so now you get the best of both worlds. You can turn on what columns you want to see in line for fast clicking, and you can have everything else down below the fold when you want it. [00:51:00] And as far as those rules go, um, the, the little I pane over on the right hand side is now giving you your categorization history in in a glance of what you did with it in the past, and it is applying your rules first. So if you're finding Kelly that the rules are not working today, ping me outside and let me know. Well, see what I can do. Um.

Dan Delong: But what I would like to see. Um, in, in in QuickBooks is [00:51:30] something that I haven't thought of yet. Right. Like that. That is that is the coolest part. Yeah. When, when a development happens that is outside of my own thinking. Right. Like, um, I think back again, you know, I hate to keep bringing up QuickBooks Point of sale, but, um, there was this thing inside QuickBooks Point of sale called the Price Manager. We lovingly refer to it as the Price Mangler because that caused so many problems, because people would change their prices [00:52:00] and there was no way to undo that. Right. And so, you know, we at support were like, they need to back up. They need to back up their data before clicking Price Manager. Right. And uh, the developers actually created a better solution, which was an undo button, which actually allowed you to do that because, you know, yeah, if you made a backup and then discovered it two days later, you've lost two days of work. If you wanted to go back to that. But they actually [00:52:30] made it undo, which allowed it to undo the things of the of that particular price manager, um, instance. Right. So I am hopeful that there are a lot of those things coming down the pike that things that we can't even think about today or conceptualize today coming through in. And we see that in QuickBooks and we're like, oh, you know, and this is and that's the real goal of QuickBooks is like, [00:53:00] you know, to power prosperity. Right. And that's their mission is to do these things. And, you know, to to radically do things that you wouldn't consider doing in any other way. Yeah. And it becomes just a part of a part of you, uh, you know, in, in your practice where it's just a tool that you use. That would be something that I would love to see.

Margie Remmers-Davis: Yeah, you know that Henry Ford said. If I had asked the people what they wanted, [00:53:30] they would have said a faster horse. Yeah. So. Right. So yeah, I just I want to echo that too. And I said that a little bit before, but that I just, I love that they are the ones thinking creatively, thinking outside the box. And I don't have that mental load to have to, you know, come up with, oh, well, you should do this. I can just sit back and let them know that they're going to, you know, they're working on the light bulb so I don't have to use a candle. You know.

Dan Delong: I'd rather I'd rather say no that's wrong [00:54:00] than try to try to come up with new ideas.

Margie Remmers-Davis: It's so much easier. It's so much easier to criticize.

Alicia Katz Pollock: Well, I think that's actually kind of a great time for us to kind of wrap up that, you know, it's a, uh, we're in such a wonderful opportunity to, like you said, help them troubleshoot. But, you know, if we can come up with the the innovations, [00:54:30] you know, there's always that feedback button flood that feedback. You know, I'm super looking forward to the new customer hub. For those of you who have seen it, it now says um, you know, customer customers and sales, but they're putting in your lead generation. I'm really looking forward to the MailChimp integration, so I can just pull up a search for everybody who is on my wholesale program through either customer type or product sold, and be able to to send a newsletter about the [00:55:00] price increases right through the interface. So that's like some of the things that are, that are coming down the, down the pike. Um, but for those of you who are, um, you know, in the live audience, we've heard a lot of stuff about construction and, um, all you were saying, well, we need all of the stuff. They're putting it in enterprise, but enterprise is too high for the for most of our many mom and pop shops who still need it. And so I'm hoping that Intuit just kind of keeps, keeps flexing and keeps moving the different [00:55:30] subscriptions around and, um, really hones in on our needs.

Dan Delong: And so I'm sure you'll see that is that enterprise suite will be the, the, the, the testing ground for these really cool things. And then they'll figure out a way to filter down, to filter down, um, you know, homogenize, you know, uh, strip out some of the really cool things or, and then give you some of the, you know, kind of like what the what you see with, uh, the custom fields now is that you now have a dropdown [00:56:00] as an option, you know.

Alicia Katz Pollock: Which is fantastic.

Margie Remmers-Davis: Yeah.

Alicia Katz Pollock: Absolutely fantastic. Yeah. All right. Well, so for all of you listeners out there, for those of you who have been with us from the beginning, from those of you who just discovered us recently, the the best thing that you can do to support us is spread the word. If you hear an episode that speaks to you, please share it out with people and say, hey, you got to go hear this episode. It was awesome. [00:56:30] Um, and subscribe and also hit up our sponsors. If, you know, go check out the sponsor links in all of the show notes and go visit them and go get a demo with them. Um, we can't do this without our sponsors. And the the more you can use us as a jumping pad to learn about new apps through the sponsors, that helps us out immensely, and that will keep the show going into the future.

Dan Delong: So reviews also review the podcast. Um, [00:57:00] that's something for you that you can do, because the more reviews that happen, the more that those podcast, um.

Alicia Katz Pollock: Platforms pick it up and and put it out.

Dan Delong: Oh, well, people are actually willing to put in a review then that this must be available for other people.

Alicia Katz Pollock: Yeah, yeah. So if you're listening on, depending on where you're listening, whether it's Apple Podcasts or Spotify or Amazon or on YouTube, just engage with it, put in [00:57:30] comments, put in feedback, share it, review it. Um, we need your help. There's only so much that I can do to get the word out there. And, you know, again, I'm just grateful for all of the support and enthusiasm that I hear from people knowing that this podcast, the unofficial QuickBooks accountants podcast, actually helps you do your job better and inspires you and makes you laugh occasionally. And it's, you know, it's not a dry, boring [00:58:00] podcast about software. You know, we're trying to have some fun here. Um, and so, um, I'm just grateful for all of you for coming along for the ride because there's no us without you. True.

Dan Delong: You can't spell us without you.

Alicia Katz Pollock: Exactly. Exactly. So, you know, again, I can't say enough to Margie and Dan and Matthew Fulton and Veronica and Hector and the Intuit guests [00:58:30] that we've had. And, you know, even even when Ben Stein and Tal Ben Basset come in, came in from, um, keeper and anchor, you know, it's the community engagement that makes it all worth it. It could just be me being a talking head, but you'd get bored of me. And so I love keeping the banter.

Margie Remmers-Davis: It's the banter that we love.

Alicia Katz Pollock: Yeah. Alright. So, um, everybody, thank you so much. And [00:59:00] we will. Everybody together.

Margie Remmers-Davis: See you next one.

Dan Delong: One.